The scars of a soldier
by GreekGod20
Summary: The story of Naruto in times of war.
1. Chapter 1

**The scars of a soldier**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.**

**Chapter 1 **

People shouting, crying, mourning, screaming, dying. For her, these sounds were an usual routine. Everyday, whether it was morning, noon or night these sounds were present. These were the songs that came with the return of the shinobi. Tired, wounded and some of them dead. She sighed and exited her tent. As a medic nin, it was her duty to help as many as she could. For almost five years, that was all he did, with the rare occasion when she was called from the safe bases on the front, to fight. And even then, she was still healing. She looked at the newcomers. Konoha and Kumo. Not that she expected something else. The fire-lightning alliance was alone in this war. Two nations fighting against the rest of the world. How it had come to this, she didn't know. Chasing those thoughts from her head, she approached the group of twenty of so. Her eyes gazed on their headbands. Lingering for someone that she knew. Someone to talk to. But she found no one. Of course, she knew the Konoha nins. But for her, they seemed to be strangers. Their expressions were not those that she got used to, they weren't the same, happy shinobi from before the war willing to carry the will of fire. No, these were shinobi plauged by war, they were wounded, tired and almost whit no hope left. She looked at the jonin who seemed to be in charge. The man barely nodded. He was a tall man with long black hair. A Konoha shinobi. He opened his mouth to speak, but no words came out. Then, he collapsed in Sakura's arms. He was dead before she caught him. She turned her head away. She didn't want to do this, she was tired, tired of war, tired of fighting, tired of everything. She looked at the chunnin under her command. "Let's burry the dead and tend the wounded." And without another word, she dropped the deceased jonin and approached the group.

Sakura wiped her forehead. She was done. She saved as many as she could, she did her best, but, of course, it wasn't enough. She heard the sound of wings flapping and she raised her head to look at a messenger bird. She raised her hand and the bird landed gracefully on it. The medic took the message and let the bird go.

_Sakura, I know that you are tired, and busy, but I need you at the High Tower on a diplomatic there you may think,because it is the safest place at the moment. Naruto is also there, I hope that you will be happy to see him. Three shinobi will come to escort you. Unfortunately, I can not came. I hope you will forgive me. Your dear teacher, Tsunade._

Sakura frowned. What did her teacher meant when she said that she _hoped _to be happy when she saw Naruto. Of course she will be. He was her teammate for Kami's sake. And she hadn't seen him since the beginning of the war. She folded the letter and put in her pockect. She was going to get some rest before the escorts arrived. She entered her tent and closed her eyes, falling into unconsciousness.

**It's a little bit short but the next chapters will be longer. My primary language is not english, but I did my best. Reviews are appreciated. See ya'. **


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

The leaves were rustling as they jumped from tree to tree. Less then two hours ago, the escort arrived an took her to the base. The team consisted of three shinobi from Kumo, one of which, Karui, she recognised as being the kunoichi who beated Naruto

a few years ago. The other two were unknown to her.

The blonde girl Samui who seemed to be in charge was wearing a grey shirt with red arm guards, a short sword strapped to her back and a modified Kumo flack-jacket that was wrapped around her stomach, given the fairly big size of her chest.

The last one was a shinobi with short blonde hair. There was nothing particular about him, if she remembered correctly his name was Daigo.

It was said that a Konoha-nin could move the fastest in a forest, however, this was not the case for Sakura. She was tired, bags forming under her eyes and she could barely keep them open.

"Hey you pink freak! Don't go too sleep now, were arrived.'' Yelled the read headed Karui.

Sakura raised her head to look at the building in front of them. The tower wasn't exactly a tower, but a rectangular construct. She didn't know how it got that name, but somehow it stuck with it.

They entered the tower. There were no guards. They didn't have enough men for petty jubs like that. In this war, every shinobi was required. The inside of the "tower" was gray. Sakura felt relieved. She expected the depressing with that she got so used to in the hospitals, not that gray was so much better. There, leaned against a table and talking to an old man stood a tall shinobi. He was dressed in a back shirt with a black coat covering his shoulders. His arms were wrapped in bandages and gloves coated his hands. His boots were also black and they were almost reaching his knees. Sakura looked at his face and gasped.

"Naruto!" indeed, his hair was blonde and spiky, and on his cheeks were his whiskers. The man looked at her and his eyes widened a little.

"Hello...Sakura." the girl inwardly flinched. The absence of _-cha__n_ was almost disturbing. There was no warm in his voice. She looked at him with medic eyes. The years of war had trained her, and she knew that this was not her Naruto. He seemed tired. His shoulders were slightly bent and his voice was empty of emotion.

"What happened to you?" the words left her mouth before she had time to think. Naruto sighed.

"What do you think happened? War happened. War changes everyone. Whether we want or not." he answered with his gaze inspecting her companions. "It's almost ironic to think that the boy whose dream was to become Hokage and achieve woeld peace became what I am now."

Sakura frowned. Her teammate and friend, if she could still call him that, was different. "And what are you now?" she asked anxious about the answer.

He raised his gaze and looked straight into her eyes. A cold felling ran down her spine. She felt an immense amount of pain, she felt like she was in danger, all of her senses were screaming to run and hide from this man. A man she once thought she knew. But she was wrong. They were eyes that have seen endless wars, carnage and bloodshed. They were still filled with a sadness that was hard to believe.

"A true shinobi." was all he said.

"I am sorry to interrupt this...reunion, but, we still have negotiations to do." the old man said looking at her with suspicion.

Naruto nodded. "That is right. Sakura, this is Asahi. He is a representative from Suna."

_Suna_. The traitors who turned their backs to Leaf when the war started. But, with the assassination of Gaara she doubted that they would still remain on good terms. She remembered when they received the info that the fifth Kazekage was dead. Naruto didn' talk to anyone for three days straight.

"Forgive me for asking, but why did you show me the location of one of your bases?" asked Asahi.

True, in times of war information valued more then a human life. Giving away positions was like killing yourself.

Naruto looked him dead in the eye. "You said you wanted to make an alliance with us. So we wanted to show you that you can fully trust us and we can fully trust you."

Asahi laughed at his words. "You seem like an honest man. Very well." he said as he raised his hand for Naruto to shook it. "Tell your Hokage that we have an alliance." but before Naruto could grab his hand the buildig shook and dust fell from the ceiling.

"What the hell is this?" Karui yelled while covering her head. Naruto gritted his teeth in anger. "They found us. Karui, Daigo, Sakura get the old man to a safe location. Samui..."

"I'm staying with you." she said grabbing her sword.

"No! I need you to stay with them. There is an exit under the floor. Go!"

"What about you." the blonde girl asked.

"I'll stay and cover you. Go!"

Samui gave him a look that meant '_Don't you dare die here."_ and went after her team. Naruto turned his head to the door and took a kunai.

"Alright, bastards! You want war? I'll give you war!''

_**Review corner:**_**biginferno- thank you, as for the ship, you'll see.**

**Thanks to all of you for more then a hundred views. Next chapter will be out soon. I did my best. See ya'.**


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

The man jumped, avoiding the jutsu that nearly burned his hair. Around him, people were fighting. None of them were Jonin, except for his opponent. _'Just my luck.'_ He thought as he jumped again, avoiding a torrent of kunai. As soon as he landed, he had to doge again. He was growing tired of this futile fight. Yes, he loved to fight, but not when the lives of his squad were in danger.

"Alright, mother fucker! Play time's over." He shouted and his hands burst out in flames. He made a quick succession of hand sings and trust them in the ground.

"Doton: Hibana iwa!"

Spikes engulfed in fire emerged from the ground pointed to his enemy. The enemy ninja tried to doge, to jump, to do everything possible to avoid his premature death. But he couldn't move. His legs were pinned to the ground. The spikes thrust into his abdomen, his chest, hands and legs. This was it. His fight was over. He did all he could to stop the Konoha shinobi from advancing to the front to offer support. They came there expecting to find only Chunnin, in other words, shinobi not strong enough for the gruesome of the war, but what they found instead was a squad made of well-trained Chuunin and an insanely mobile Jonin leading them. He looked at his opponent. He was approaching him. His eyes scared him. They were feral, like a wolf's. His hole appearance was feral, like an animal. He figured this was one of the Inuzuka. Particularly, _that _Inuzuka that was known through the ranks of Kiri.

"You out up quite a fight, I'm impressed." the Kiri-nin said.

"Yeah, yeah, thanks. Now, do something gold for the first time in your kife and tell me were is your base." The Inuzuka growled.

"I apologise, but that is information that I can not provide. However, before you kill me, tell me, how did you trapped me on the ground?"

Hearing that, the Inuzuka snorted.

"A nasty trick that I learned from a friend, and since you're gonna' die in a couple seconds there's no reason to not tell you: before I thrust my arms into the ground I made a simple hand seal that covered your legs in earth. I know, pretty cruel, but the one who taught me that is not the most merciful person out there, though he used to be..."

The Kiri-nin felt the Shinighami approaching, so he gave one last respectful nod to the Inuzuka before death embraced him. Sighing, Kiba closed the man's eyes.

"Peace-out motherfucker. You've been a good opponent." He looked around searching for the young teen who was recently promoted to Chūnin and assigned to his squad. There he was, a few meters to his left.

"Anoki!" he shouted. The boy stoped cleaning his sword and approached him.

"Report!" Kiba barked. He never liked being severe with the young ones, but alas, at times of war there was nothing he could do. Anoki straightened his back and spoke in a thin voice.

"No losses on our side, thankfully. But we have a few wounded," the young boy spoke. His voice was calm, but Kiba could hear a slight tone of worry, but he shrugged it off. It was normal for young shinobi to be slightly shaken in times of war. Times were you were either a man, or you were dead. Kiba sighed, knowing too well the boy's feelings. After all, he was in the same position once.

"Alright, treat them and let's..." but he was interrupted when the ground in front of him raised and a small animal stuck his head out holding a scroll between his teeth. The jonin bended and took the piece of paper, making sure to pet the summon before he opened the scroll and started reading.

Anoki watched as his superior frowned and, with a "Follow." he stared heading to the rest of his men.

Kiba watched his subordinates. Orders were orders, and even though Kiba was never one to follow them, if they came from the Hokage e had to obey. But that didn't mean that he had to agree with them. What Tsunade was asking was dangerous, not for him, but for _his men_. Freshly promoted chuunin who still had to experience worse battles then the mere brawls they had. Kiba called them brawls because that's what they were, at least compared to the fights held on the front, fights in which he fought.

He raised his hand and the clearing was filled with silence.

"We have new orders, they come directly from the Hokage. We must leave now and head to the avanpost. There we will meet with a team and, togheter, we will advance to the front. Our army needs support, and we must give it. Let's move!"

A short kunoichi raised her hand to signal a question. Kiba nodded at her giving her permission to speak.

"But sir, we have wounded that we have to heal, what will we do with them?"

Hearing her words, the feral man clenched his fits. It was not an unusual move to sacrifice a small force to save another, one more powerful and efficient. Kiba's soldiers were still young, they were not a force to be recognized, nor did they posses any Kekkei Genkai that would make them beneficial for Konoha. They were just simple chuunin. And weak ones.

The only reason that Kiba was in charge of them was because he needed some time away from the front. And his Hokage was not willing to have one of her top soldiers diagnosed with a psychological break-down.

He looked the short girl in the eyes and offered the explanation.

"The orders state that anybody who is incapable of walking is to be left behind."

"But, they will die!" the kunoichi protested.

"I know, but there is nothing that we can do, say your goodbyes and let's move. Ya got two minnutes," Kiba said walking away. He hated himself for that, but he had to do it.

He heard light footsteps approaching him, and he turned his head to see Anoki.

"What do ya want?" Kiba asked in a bored tone.

The boy simply adjusted his footsteps to walk at the same pace as him. No words were spoken between them. Just a slight feeling of camaraderie that made Kiba wonder how long will Anoki live. War was greedy when it came to taking people away.

"I was wandering, why are we fighting? Why did the war start? For what do we die for?"

Kiba looked at the boy surprised.

"Really? You don't know?"

"Well, nobody bothered to explain." shrugged the boy.

"Well, it all stared with the death of the Fifth Kazekage. Or better said, his assassination by a man who then proclaimed himself the sixth Kazekage," that incident almost broke Naruto. The blonde locked himslef in his apartment for days, and wouldn't talk to anyone. "I think you already know about Kiri's civil war. With the installment of the fifth Mizukage, we thought it was over, but we were wrong. They were never stable, and how much time do you think it took for another Mizukage to raise to power? This time the new Kage hated Konoha for reasons unknown. And thus, the aliance of Kiri and Suna was formed. And then there is Iwa. Even after the fourth shinobi war those bastards still disliked us. An alliance between two of the most powerful villages to destroy Konoha? Sure, why not?"

Anoki nodded in understanding, but there was one more thing that he didn't understand.

"What about the smaller villages? And why Kumo still fights alongside us?"

"When three of the most powerful villages unite themselves to destroy another one, who do you ally with? With the winning side of course! And since some of the most dangerous criminals this world has ever seen were a product of Konoha, some think that it will be better wtihout us. We had so much luck with the Raikage's brother being a very good friend to Naruto, otherwise, we will be fighting alone." Kiba explained.

He hated this war, hated everything about it, he still had to fight, he still had to lead these teenager to death and tell them that it was their duty, that they died to protect their precious ones, but it was all a lie. And Kiba hated himself for that.

(XXX)

Sakura was exhausted. She had been running for what felt like _hours_. Her chakra was starting to go down, but she didn't want to use her seal. She looked at Asahi, who was carried by Daigo. The man was surprisingly eager to make an alliance, so eager that it almost seemed to be a fake one. From what she heard, Suna had no intention of ending the war. They still had many shinobi capable of fighting. So what were their true intentions?

A kunai flew trough the air, Sakura had no time to react, no time to dodge. If that knife was meant _for her_ she wouldn't have survived, but it was not. The blade flew past her and embedded itself in Asahi's head. The group stopped. The shinobi tensed, they pulled out their weapons and stood back to back woth the corpse in the center. They stood like comrades who knew each other for years. Even thought Sakura was almost a stranger to the Kumo team. They waited for a sound, aglimpse of movement, _anything _that would have given away the enemy's position. And they heard him, right in the center of their formation. Sakura was instantly reminded of Zabuza's silent killing technique. She knew that their enemy_ revealed himself_ to them. She turned her head, expecting to see the headband of an Iwa shinobi, or any other enemy village, but instead she was met with Naruto's face.

"If I was an enemy, you'd be dead," he spoke in a low tone and walked away. "C'mon, the base's that way."

The kumo team instantly relaxed, sheathing their swords and following him.

"Wait!" Sakura protested. Naruto turned his head with a raised eyebrow. "What about him?" the girl pointed to the limp form of Asahi.

"He was our enemy. The shinobi who attacked us were from Suna. He lead them to us. Let's go." he said and turned away.

Sakura was wordless. This Naruto was so used to killing that it almost frieghtend her. To think that he went from a cheerful boy who wanted to become Hokage to a cold-blooded soldier was truly a scary thing. Absently, she wandered how the rest of her friends have changed. With a sigh, she went after him.

Naruto was already a fair distance ahead, so she had to run to catch him. Just as she was about to join his side, she stopped noticing that his cloak was gone, revealing his bloodied shirt.

"You're hurt!" she gasped, hands already glowing green with chakra, ready to accomplish her duty as a medic-nin and heal her injured teammate, but he raised his hand to stop her.

"I'm fine, it's not my blood. C'mon, we must reach the base before dawn."

She lowered her hands, the green light fading away. His sad tone didn't escape her ears. He might be a vicious soldier, but at the core, he was still small kid who was scared. She opened her mouth to comfort him, but the words stopped in her throat when she noticed Samui. The blonde kunoichi was alking near Naruto, their shoulders touching from time to time in what seemd to be a small gesture of comfort.

"Jealous, pink-head?" a voice asked her.

Sakura turned her head to see the red-haired kunoichi, Karui, if she remembered her name correctly.

"What do you mean?" the pink-haired asked, but she only received a grin from the other girl, Daigo being the one who answered in her place.

"Samui-senpai and Naruto-sama have known each-other for a long time, almost since the war started. They've been a=on many missions together, thus they have formed a strong bond," the young man spoke in a tone similar to Shino.

"Plus the fact that they fuck on missions," Karui stated in an amused tone.

"I heard that!" Naruto yelled without turning his head.

Karui's response was a to put touch her chin with a finger.

"Hmmm, doesn't sound like a no for me," but she said no more when a kunai flew past her head.

"Okay!Okay! I'm done! Humorless bastard." she said, but this time she was met with no kunai, but with Samui's calm tone.

"We're here."

And indeed they were. Sakura looked past the two blondes to see an array of tents and shinobi. They reached the base.


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4**

Kiba smelled him before he saw him, but he usually smelled someone before anything else. He recognized his scent. Even a new-born puppy would. The smell of earth and leaves, stained by a small flavor of blood, toads and fox. He turned his head to see his long-time friend enter the clearing followed by Sakura, the blonde kunoichi from Kumo whom he spent so much time with and two other Kumo-nin.

Kiba rose from the ground and raised a hand in a sign of greeting. At his full height, he towered most of the shinobi.

"Hey! You fucking shit!" He yelled at Naruto, who gave him a similar salute. "Long time no see you damned shit smeller good-for-nothing-dog!"

Sakura stood bewildered while she watched the two friends. They touched glared at each other with looks that could kill a man, and then, to the girl's and everyone's else surprise they started laughing and hugged each other like two brothers who hadn't seen each other for a long time.

"How long has it been?" Naruto asked after they parted.

"Two months. Two months of boredom," said a chuckling Kiba. "Come on, you came right on time for the campfire stories, tomorrow we will discus about our duty, but for now, let's relax and enjoy life," then, the feral man turned his head to greet Naruto's companions.

Sakura smiled lightly. Kiba was always a passionate and energetic man. She was already feeling better. But she had some questions.

"It's good to see you Kiba, but I must must ask: what are the campfire stories?"

The girl felt a litlle bit shamed that she didn't know what that was, but being stationed at a medical base for almost the entire time of the war really cut her off from the outsde front. The only news she received came from the injured shinobi, but most of the ones who could still talk didn't remember many things, and others were so affected by the stress that they could die at any second that they would lose their sanity, and would start muttering stories that seemed to strange to believe.

Kiba smiled almost apologetically.

"Well you see, every night we gather around a fire and tell each other stories, it's a way to calm the younger shinobi. I'm sure that you, as a medic, understand."

Sakura nodded.

She understood to well.

She'd seen what the war did to the mind.

In the rare occasions were she met with Ino, the two girls would sit and talk abut things, and sometimes the blonde girl would tell Sakura how it was to visit the shaken mind of a war victim. It was an experience that the pink-haired medic didn't want to live.

The Inuzuka then turned his gaze to Samui, who stood quietly at Naruto's side.

"Ahh, Samui." The man greeted. "You truly are a beautiful sight for the man to see."

Said blonde just slightly frowned, making Kiba sigh.

Of course. No reaction. Sometimes he wondered what did Naruto saw in that woman.

"Be done with your insults, dog boy." Said Naruto walking past him. "Come on!"

Not even bothering with a glance to the last two members of the Kumo team, he turned and followed his friend.

After Akamaru's death, he was a wreck. He didn't care about making new ones he had were enough, and the pain of losing them would already be enough. He didn't want to add others to his list of precious people. He didn't want any more pain.

Losing comrades was something, but losing friends was totally something else.

(XXXX)

Jealousy.

That's what Sakura felt.

Jealousy.

She was very surprised by this feeling, not because of what caused it, but because of _who_ caused it.

She felt a node in her stomach as she looked again at Naruto and Samui. The boy was lying on the ground,his back leaned against a tree. And his head was on top of Samui's. The girl was sitting in _his _lap. Their hands held together.

Sakura had no idea why she wanted so much to be in her place. She had to direct her thoughts to something else. So she turned her head to listen to the chuunin who was telling a story about a gruesome battle in which he fought.

Sakura grimaced. She knew too well the results of such encounters, to many times she failed to save her comrades, too many times she had been too late. She closed her eyes, trying to chase away the memories. Memories of fallen men and women. Of incurable wounds, of tattered and burned bodies, of lost hopes and dreams.

"Hey! Said a chuunin, pointing to Naruto and Kiba who had been conversing silently up to that point. "Aren't you Uzumaki Naruto?"

The blonde in question frowned, but nodded. Immediately every shinobi started to ask him to tell a story.

"Tell us about the Azua Bridge." the question silenced everybody. The battle of Azua Bridge was legendary among the fire-lightning alliance. It was one of the fights that contributed to Naruto's rise in the ranks and his fame.

The blonde closed his eyes. He didn't want to talk about it. Not at all. Only the Hokage and him knew what happened.

Naruto and two squads were sent to secure an important access route to Kiri. They won. But at the great cost. When reinforcements arrived. They found only one survivor. Naruto, standing in the water, now red from the blood. All-around him were bodies and limbs, floating on the surface, an image that only seemed possible in the darkest of dreams.

No one asked what happened. Only Tusnade. But she paid for that. That day, that mission, was the one that got him lost.

He stood up, looked at the faces of the shinobi around him. They were young, as young as him, many of them had never seen a real battle. He looked in their eyes.

He saw looks of fear, fear of losing their lives, arrogance, arrogance of thinking that they were better than the enemy. In Naruto's eyes, they were children. Some of them were only a year or two younger than him, but they hadn't seen what he did, they hadn't done what he did.

He would have to teach them a lesson. He looked at Kiba. His trusted friend. Silently, he asked for permision. Permission to_ torment_ his squad. To make them realize the danger. His friend nodded.

So, he started speaking:

"No. I won't talk about that, but I have a question. How many of you had killed?"

A few of the older chuunin raised their hands, too few.

"Hmph. You may consider yourselves _ninja_. But you are not. Ranks don't mean anything, you may consider yourselves 'powerful' but you are not. It's not hard to guess that most of you are freshly promoted. I can see it in your eyes, your movements. You are predictable. And you've never taken a life. When you cut open your enemy, when his blood flows on your blade and hands, when you see the life leaving his eyes, then you can call yourself a soldier. Because you are not yet ninja. And perhaps you'll never be."

His cold gaze met Sakura's. The girl had a questioning look, as the rest of the chuunins.

"Look at us, he continued, we fight in plain sight and scream the names of our techniques, flashy techniques, we are the exact opposite of stealth, and yet we call ourselves 'ninja'."

He raised from his spot and went to the tents.

"I'm going to sleep," he said over his shoulder and the rest of the ninja followed his example.

Sakura stayed a little longer, looking in the fire. The orange light was reflecting on her hair, making it glow. She remained there, motionless, wandering what could have changed her once-teammate so much.

The blade flew trough the air, explosive tag hissing. Naruto instantly opened his eyes. For a normal shinobi the sound would have been almost imperceptible, especially if the shinobi was asleep.

But Naruto was by no means a normal man. As a former jinchuuriki his senses were sharper than normal. Almost as good as an Inuzuka's.

It took him two seconds to roll out of the tent, one more second to reach the middle of the camp and take out a kunai.

In less than four seconds Uzumaki Naruto was wide awake and combat ready. The exploding tag hit the tent as more tags flew trough the air. Two seconds later, Kiba was back-to-bakc with him, one kunai in each hand.

The explosions woke the reaming shinobi. Samui appeared a moment later and Naruto and Kiba shifted to create a triangular formation.

"Samui, organize our forces! Kiba, find the enemy's position!" barked Naruto.

The two jonnins moved at once, in a coordination that gave the impression that the two were born in the same village, that the two had been teammates since they graduated.

But it was not true.

Naruto looked around. His chakra was hidden by the seals he wore on his body.

He was standing still.

And no kunai came for him.

No blade was meant for his flesh, no blade showed his blood to the world.

But his comrades' fate was totally different. The knives were targeting them with a deadly precission.

That meant that their enemy was jonnin rank.

Naruto activated his sage mode. It took him years, but in the end he finally managed to activate it in mere seconds, to instantly draw the natural chakra around him.

He couldn't sense the attackers.

He watched as the shinobi around him stumbled to cover. He watched as the ones with bigger chakra signatures were targeted first.

Then, he understood. The enemy was a sensor. He was most likely in a position where he couldn't be see, and also unable to see them, so he was sensing them.

With a slight flare of his chakra Naruto called Kiba.

The man returned a second later.

"Found the fucker," said him.

"Point me," was Naruto's response.

Kiba nodded to a tree. Naruto instantly sent a fire jutsu there.

The jutsu clashed with the tree, morphing the wood into charcoal.

Naruto raised his fist and said one word.

"Gather!"

The chuunin went to him, some still anxious of another attack.

Kiba went to the burned tree and came back dragging a wounded man.

He pushed the man on his knees and grabbed his hair, raising his head so Naruto could look him in the eye.

Samui unsheathed her sword and put the blade at the man's neck.

The shinobi wore no head-band.

"Your village. Tell me!" Naruto barked.

With the corner of his eye he saw the slightly disapproving look on Sakura's face.

He trned his gaze back to the kneeling man in front of him. He was mumbing something.

"What was that?" said Naruto benting his head and turning with his ear to him in a mocking gesture. "I didn't catch it."

The man looked him dead in the eye and spoke loud and clearly:

"Death to you, Black Storm!"

Naruto widened his eyes.

An average shinobi would have never heard the hidden explosive tag that was _inside_ the enemy-nin's body.

But Naruto heard it. He heard it's hiss at the last moment.

The explosive tag detonated. He caught the full blast of the explosion and he was thrown back.

He felt _pain_. A lot. He heard the shift of the leaves, the snapping of branches, he _felt_ the enemy.

He heard the ambush.

He heard someone call him by his name, then all he knew was dark.

**Alright. That's it. The end of the chapter. I told you that I'd make the chapters longer and here it is. I know it's been some time since my last update but I have a lot of things to do, and I've got an important exam that I gotta pass, otherwise, I'm screwed.**

**Oh, and thank you for the reviews. I truly appreciate them.**

**And two more things: **

** ANYONE KNOW IF THERE IS A LIMIT ON THE NUMBER OF WORDS A CHAPTER HAS, OR I CAN WRITE TWO MILLION WORDS IN ONE CHAPTER?**

**2.I don't know if I said this but English is not my primary language so I apologise for any mistakes that I make.**

**Till next time, see ya' lads.**


	5. Chapter 5

Naruto opened his eyes, slowly. He heard someone calling his name.

He closed his eyes again.

He opened them again when he felt two pairs of hands grabbing him.

Again he left himself to the darkness.

He woke again when he felt the heath of an explosion. He heard a familiar voice saying something about injuries.

The darkness consumed him again.

(XXXX)

_They were dead. All of them. Every last one of his friends. They were all lying down on the ground. And the ground was red from the blood. And the blood came from the corpses. And the corpses looked like they had been cut. _

_All around him was death. But he wasn't the cause. No. At least, not directly._

_In front of him stood a man dressed in dark blue robes. His back to Naruto. Slowly, the man turned. The hood covering his face, but his glowing blue eyes still visible. Blue eyes that seemed to be made of ice. And they were. _

_The man laughed. A cruel and twisted sound that sent shivers down Naruto's spine._

"_I will come for you, Storm Bender. I will come." said the man._

(XXXXX)

Naruto woke with a scream. Somebody had put him in a bed. He tried to raise himself, but a sharp pain in his ribs stopped him.

He looked around him. A plain room. No piece of furniture, nothing. The walls were full of cracks and they looked like they could collapse at any moment.

He turned his head to the only door in the room when he heard footsteps.

Kiba stuck his head in the room, then yelled:

"He's awake!"

Naruto grunted, trying to raise himself again. But this time Kiba firmly pushed him back.

"Easy there, man. You caught the full blast of an explosion. We were ambushed."

"The others..." Naruto said weakly. His throat was dry, and every word hurt.

"We don't know. When that Iwa-fucker killed himself, the blast threw us away. I and Samui managed to get to you, but then more Iwa-fuckers arrived. They were throwing fire techniques everywhere. The only thing that we could do was run, so we got separated from the rest of the squad."

Just then, Samui entered the room. She approached the bed slowly. Naruto expected a kiss on the lips or at least a hug, but instead he got the exact opposite when Samui slapped him over the head.

"You idiot!" then she proceeded to unwrap the bandages that covered his right arm.

"Ya' got some nasty wounds. Half of your ribs broken, the whole right arm covered in burns. An open cut near the stomach, hell, I had to _cut you_ to get out the shrapnel. You're lucky ya' survived." Kiba told him.

"Good thing that I know some medical techniques, _unlike _you two, idiots," Samui said while hovering her hand over his stomach. "I'm no medic, but I think you should be able to function at your minimum capacity in at least three days."

Naruto nodded. He trailed his gaze over Samui's face. Blonde bags falling from her messy bun. The frown on her face somehow making her even more beautiful.

"Ahem!" Kiba interrupted his musings. "I think you may want to know where we are."

Naruto raised an eyebrow.

"We are in deep shit. No literally, we're somewhere in Iwa, but luckily, we're near the border. I think." explained Kiba.

Naruto grunted, something wasn't right. "How the hell?" he asked.

Kiba shrugged. "I dunno. When we reached you, we started running, we didn't care about where we went, we just had to get you to safety."

"What's this place?"

Kiba grimaced. A rare sight. "We're in a cleaned village."

Naruto nodded slowly. A cleaned village. What a strange name for something that felt so venomous. A 'cleaned' village was created especially in times of war when it was dangerous to allow the enemy to get their hands on resources and information. Thus, the small, unnamed villages that were unlucky to be close to the border were 'cleaned' to say so. That meant that the shinobi of the respective country came and burnt the village, killing everyone inside it.

It was dark, crude. And Naruto had done it. He wasn't proud of himself, but he had done it in the past.

That was one of the reasons he hated himself.

Samui must have guessed his words or saw something on his usually inexpressive face because she traced a soft hand on his cheek.

"Go to sleep," she said in a light voice, "We'll wake you later."

And Naruto listened to her.

(XXXXX)

Samui watched Naruto's sleeping form. His chest was slowly rising and falling, in resonance with his breathing.

"You should sleep too," Kiba's voice came from behind her.

She turned her head. The feral man was leaned against a wall blackened by the soot. His eyes were closed, but he was awake.

"I'll sleep later. Now, I have to make sure that he doesn't die in his sleep."

Kiba chuckled. "What an end that would be. The great Naruto Uzumaki, dying in his beauty-sleep."

Samui's lips slightly curled. It wasn't a smile, just the ghost of one.

She resumed her watch over the fallen blonde. Her head was filled with toughs about him. The first time they met, years ago.

This time, she smiled, remembering how they _properly _met. It happened at the start of the war, she had been assigned to a three-man team. Herself and two Konoha shinobi. It wasn't unusual to take members of different villages and throw them together in a team and pray that it would work.

Sometimes it did.

Sometimes it didn't.

But this team worked. She had spent years together with Naruto and Kiba. She had watched them do terrible things, she had watched them witness the death of so many friends that the two had stopped getting close to people. She had watched them murder, kidnap, torture, and many more cruel things.

She had watched as Akamru died.

She had watched Naruto getting close to losing his humanity.

But she had been there for them.

She had been the one that kept them together. She had been the one that kept them _human_.

She had been there for them.

And she had fallen in love with Naruto.

She didn't know how, but she did. And she was going to die for him if she had.

As would Naruto.

In moments like these, when she could finally rest for a while, she would think.

Think of what would have become of Naruto if she wouldn't have been there for him.

She didn't want to know.

Samui looked over her shoulder. Kiba was still there, but this time, he was asleep.

Slowly, carefully to not wake either of them, she raised and made her way to Naruto.

Even more slowly, she climbed onto the bed and laid down next to him.

She put one hand over his chest. She could feel his heart beating.

Never in her life had Samui felt a heart like his.

She pulled him closed and closed her eyes.

She wouldn't sleep tonight, she told herself. She would watch him and make sure he stayed alive.

Because he needed her.

Because _she_ needed him.


End file.
